🛡️ 52 BC | Siege of Alesia (Gaul, modern France) What you’re seeing:
Roman legionaries standing behind their siege lines outside the hill town of Alesia in 52 BC, as Julius Caesar tries to starve Vercingetorix into surrender in the final crisis of the Gallic Wars. Discrepancies in this recreation:
The helmets here resemble the more elaborate Imperial-era styles rather than the simpler Republican helmets likely worn at Alesia. Too many rankers wear big, bright crests that should mostly mark centurions or officers. Armor and shields are broadly plausible, but the line still looks a bit too uniform and clean for veterans who have campaigned for years in muddy Gaul. Who were the Gauls?
Celtic peoples across what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and northern Italy who both traded with Rome and fought it, including the famous Gallic sack of Rome in 390 BC. Why was Caesar fighting in Gaul? He claimed to defend Roman allies and secure the frontier, but the wars also brought him plunder...